Tag Archives: Wine

Sometimes, as I read the Scriptures, I get inspired in various ways. This post is for those of you like me: one of the ways I get inspired is to cook, I think of food. So here is a meditation on Scripture with a recipe that it may inspire you to create. In 1 Timothy 5 Paul writes this to Timothy,

23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)

Reading through this chapter, you may be caught off guard by Paul’s seemingly disconnected instruction to young Timothy. Though I am inspired to drink or cook with wine, I suspect that this may not be what Paul intended this verse to accomplish. This verse at first seems completely out of place, yet a closer look at the context sheds some light on why Paul says this.

Paul is in the midst of exhorting Timothy on how to conduct himself as a leader in the church and how to lead his flock. In verse 22, Paul turns to personal instruction: Timothy, be pure, keep yourself from sin. Making this practical, Paul inserts some personal health instruction. He is saying something like this, “Focus on pursuing godly conduct and leadership—and take care of yourself in the process!” Ethically, that Paul instructs a Church leader to drink wine suggests that there is no absolute Scriptural prohibition against drinking alcohol—though there are relevant prohibitions governing particular circumstances (e.g., Romans 14) and drunkenness (e.g. 1 Tim. 3:8, Gal. 5:19-21). Furthermore, though he makes it clear elsewhere that godliness is the priority (1 Tim. 4:8), Paul makes the point here that one can only lead others and serve Jesus when he or she is alive to do so—so health has some measure of importance. The fact that Paul sandwiches this instruction between the greater contrast between good works and sin suggests, probably, that Timothy was only drinking water (abstaining from wine) to avoid connection with the sinful practices of others. Paul is, then, reinforcing Timothy’s purpose but encouraging a different practice.

What can we take from this, other than a recipe? Paul cared about practical issues, he cared about people, their health, and though we should focus on godliness—dying to self and following Jesus—we need to be alive to do so, so we shouldn’t neglect those means of healing made available to us as we seek first Christ’s kingdom.

With that in mind, here is a great (at least my wife thought so) wine inspired recipe, a sauce for any pasta—ideally paired with seafood but great with any herby Chicken or pork.

Creamy Garlic White Wine Sauce (serves two people)

1/4 a cup white wine (I used a Chardonnay)

1/2 chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt (I added a bit more at the end, depending on the salt content of the chicken broth)

1/3 – 1/2 cup diced onion

5 or 6 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicy you like it)

Fennel seed (I used about half a tsp)

Diced Mushroom

1/2 cup Almond milk

2 Tbsp. butter

Ground pepper to taste

(For thickening, I used about two tbslp brown rice flour)

Heat up ½ tbsp. olive oil in a 7-9inch (medium sized) pan. Add 1 tbsp of butter to the hot oil, sauté onions for 1 minute with fennel seed. Add garlic and mushroom, sauté for another minute with 1/4 tsp of salt. Add tbsp. of butter, then chicken broth and wine. Bring to a boil at medium heat, boil for 5 minutes. Add almond milk and pepper and bring to a boil at medium, boil for 1 minute. Thicken by boiling and adding flour to liking, add more salt as necessary. Serve hot.

When we hear a communion message today it is often based on the synoptic accounts of Jesus’ words, but rarely have I heard a message based on Paul’s account found in 1 Corinthians 11. In this account Paul address the situation of His readers with a piercing challenge directed at the selfish ways they were practicing the Lord’s Supper. He clarifies what he received from the Lord (11:23) and delivers a scary pronouncement “29For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” This is a terrifying statement, I can understand why some would avoid it; but Paul is writing as an inspired author of Holy Scripture[1] and we need to heed the things that he has to say. The question is; what exactly does Paul mean with what he writes in this passage?[2]

The first thing that strikes a reader approaching this passage in its context is Paul’s strong reprimand in vs. 17-22. Paul writes that when they come together in worship and as they practice communion, what is meant to celebrate their unity (10:16), they do not come together for “the better but for the worse” (11:17). As they come together there is much divisiveness—not all of which is completely harmful in their situation (11:19)—for they come and they eat and they drink without regard for one another. This resulted in some, who had nothing, being humiliated (20-22). Instead of treating communion as it was supposed to be treated, the Corinthians were acting as if it was just another feast (20-21). In the passage at hand Paul specifically addresses concerns about the way the Corinthians have been practicing the Lord’s Supper, they have shown disregard for the unity it represents and have approached it as a common feast looking out for their own desires above those of their brethren. Because of this division Paul reiterates what he had delivered to them before on the Supper and addresses the present results of their disobedience in practicing the Supper. As we come to 11:23-34 in the flow of Paul’s argument he has been addressing different concerns raised by the Corinthian Church. Starting in verse 2 of this chapter, and extending to the end of it, Paul begins to address concerns about their worship.

After addressing their divisiveness and failure to properly practice the Supper in vv. 17-22, Paul then gives the grounds for his charge in vv. 23-34. In vv. 23-26 Paul presents the content of what he received “from the Lord” (v. 23) about the supper, he then proceeds to draw an inference as to the guilt of those partaking of the Supper “in an unworthy manner” (v. 27) from the content of what he received. Finally, in v. 33-34, he concludes with a final inference—drawing on his argument in vv. 23-32—as to how the Corinthians should properly act in regards to the Supper. Paul, in addressing the disunity of the brethren in Corinth, calls their attention to the sickness and even death coming upon them (30) as evidence of a corrective judgment on the part of God (29-32). In the center of his argument is a rather difficult statement, Paul writes that they eat and drink judgment upon themselves if they do “not judge the body rightly” (29). We must ask, what does it mean to not judge the body rightly? Historically the position taken has been that “the body” is a shorthand reference to the blood and body of the Lord commemorated in the Supper. From this perspective what the Corinthians are failing to discern (διακρὶνω, diakrinō) properly is the true nature of the supper and are confounding it with a regular meal.3 Paul here simply writes “the body” and it seems to be a rather conspicuous absence for him to neglect “the blood” and “of the Lord” if this is what he is referring to, especially since the blood and the body are given in pairing in one sense or another 6 times in the previous verses.4 In speaking only of the “body” it would seem that Paul is harkening back to what he has already said about the bread and the body in 10:16. In this verse Paul writes of the bread, “the bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” In verse 17 he then follows up with “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Paul in these verses argues that in partaking of the one bread they Corinthians are participating in the body of Christ, they are declaring their unity as one body. 5 For them to fail to discern the body rightly in 11:29 is for them to fail to acknowledge the meaning of the body in the communion service, in their disunity they are throwing out the core of what it is meant to represent. Overall, then, Paul is writing that the disunity of the Corinthians in partaking of communion has caused sickness and death, for those in disunity are drinking the corrective judgment of God. His imperative from this argument is that they are to come together in unity, waiting for one another and getting their fill at home so that they are not causing division with the pursuit of their appetites (11:33-34).

Today we can apply what Paul is speaking of here to our communion service by having a time set aside for self-examination. As we talk about the bread and blood and what they represent we need to remember that in instituting a New Covenant through His blood Christ has established a new covenant community of regenerate believers, as we break the bread we remember our unity as the body of Christ, a community of believers in covenant relationship with God. We must examine ourselves and ask ourselves where we are in relationship with our brothers and sisters; do our actions demonstrate our union with them or do we portray disunity? If our answer is disunity then we must takes steps to reconcile our relationships with these brothers and sisters and truly represent the united Body of Christ in our partaking of communion.

[4] That is, referring to the action eating and drinking (28, 29[2]), the symbols of the cup and the bread (26, 27), or the blood and flesh itself (27). Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987), 563.

It seems fitting for us this, at least for Canadians, thanksgiving weekend to partake of communion, the Lord’s Supper, and remember our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross. This time of year is traditionally one where people gather together and give thanks for all they have in their lives. What is more fitting than for us as the body of Christ, a united family of sons and daughters of God our Father, to gather together in remembrance of that which we have most reason to give thanks?

We practice Communion today because we believe that it is something Jesus commanded us to do, and because it is something we read being done throughout the early Church. In our Bibles we find 4 accounts of the Lord’s Supper; 3 are in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the last is found in 1 Corinthians. Today I want to take a look at Luke’s account, turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 22:14-23. Here is what Luke recorded about the last supper of Christ with His apostles:

“14 And when the hour came, he reclined at [the] table, and the apostles with him.15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (ESV)

When we partake of communion we drink the bread and the juice, replacing wine, in remembrance of what Christ did almost 2000 years ago; God Himself in the flesh coming into His creation to give His life so that we may be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life with God Himself.

As we partake of the bread we remember our Savior Jesus Christ as He, after being beaten and scourged by Roman soldiers, carried the Cross upon which He would be hung from Jerusalem to Golgotha where He would be crucified. We remember Him nailed to a cross, the most vicious and barbaric form of capital punishment known to man, bearing not just the painful weight of His body suspended above the ground by nails in His wrists and ankles, but taking upon Himself the full weight of God’s righteous wrath towards our sins, a punishment we could never bear ourselves; dying in our place bearing the punishment we deserved so that we may know God and follow Him. We remember Him crying out “Into your hands I commit my Spirit” as He breathed His last breath and finished the work He came to earth to do; surrendering His life for us. Let us eat of the bread together and remember our Saviour, no longer on the Cross, but having defeated sin and given Himself for us, now resurrected and alive forever more. You may eat the bread.

As we drink of the juice let us remember Jesus’ words; “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”. We have been going through the book of Hebrews since the beginning of summer and throughout the various sermons Tom, Joel, and I have drawn attention to a theme that undergirds the entire book; that of God’s covenant with us as those who have faith in Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 8 the writer of the book draws attention to Jeremiah 31 and promises that Jeremiah made about the coming of a New Covenant, one that would replace the one that God made with the Jews at Sinai. When I preached Hebrews 8 at the end of August I mentioned three promises that this New Covenant ushered in: all those who believe in Jesus Christ have been given new hearts with which we desire God and are able to, however imperfectly, follow Him; all those who believe in Jesus Christ know God personally in a way only a few under the Old Testament knew Him, we have the same relationship characterized by the prophets like Jeremiah; and all who believe have received the forgiveness of their sins by the blood of Christ shed on the cross taking away a punishment we deserved. Jesus, as recorded by Luke, told His disciples that the communion cup represents His blood shed instituting a new covenant; this is the New Covenant that Hebrews 8, Jeremiah 31, Isaiah 54, Ezekiel 36, and many other Scriptures speak of, this is the Covenant with God within which we find ourselves by our faith. As we drink the juice let us remember what Christ accomplished on the Cross; in bearing the full brunt of the wrath of God He ushered in a New Covenant whereby we—those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour—are freed from the guilt and punishment of our sin, we desire God and are being progressively transformed so that we act and think more and more like Jesus, and we experience daily relationship with God whereby we can freely approach Him in prayer and worship, bringing before Him our needs and desires and joyfully lifting up our praise to Him as we express in word and action the grandeur of who He is and all that He has done in and for us.